Khartoum: Nearly 20,000 people have been displaced in Sudan's Blue Nile state due to deteriorating security conditions and escalating risks facing residents, according to a local relief group on Sunday.
According to Anadolu Agency, the Geissan Emergency Room released a statement indicating that the City 12 area in Geissan locality is experiencing a new wave of displacement. This involves residents and displaced civilians who had been staying in shelters. Initial estimates suggest that the number of displaced individuals is nearing 20,000, encompassing families, children, women, and elderly people.
The displaced population has spread across various areas, including Shira, Abu Qami, and Al-Hilla Al-Qadima, as well as to Wad Al-Mahi locality to the east. Others have sought refuge in shelters within the city of Damazin. The group highlighted that these displaced families are enduring severe humanitarian conditions, suffering from acute shortages of shelter materials and basic necessities.
The emergency group has called upon humanitarian and relief organizations, along with local and international bodies, to urgently intervene. The aim is to address the growing needs of the displaced and help alleviate the humanitarian and health impacts of the crisis.
Blue Nile state has experienced escalating conflict over the past two days following attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its ally, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), on multiple areas within the state. On Friday, the RSF claimed to have seized the Bakori and Sirkam military bases southeast of Damazin, the capital of Blue Nile state.
In addition to Blue Nile and Darfur, the three states of the Kordofan region-North, West, and South Kordofan-have witnessed clashes between the army and the RSF since October 25. Sudan has been engulfed in a conflict between the army and the RSF since April 2023, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of approximately 13 million people, as estimated by UN and international authorities.